Between the Maghrib and the western Sahel: mobility and inhabitation dynamics of Berber human groups in Saharan spaces through Arabic sources (3rd/9th to 8th/14th centuries)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30827/meaharabe.v74.30997Keywords:
Medieval Sahara, Berbers, mobility, inhabitation, productive systemsAbstract
This study analyzes the most relevant textual evidence from the Arabic medieval geographical corpus, together with other kinds of testimonies, such as travel and ʿajāʾib literature or historiographical accounts, in search for the mobility, presence and settlement dynamics of Berber human groups between the Maghrib and the western Sahel between the 3rd/9th and 8th/14th centuries. Through the works of Ibn Ḥawqal, al-Bakrī, al-Idrīsī, Ibn Baṭṭūṭa and Ibn Ḫaldūn, and the systematization of the terminology that they apply to the different kinds of groups (qawm, ahl, qabīla, entre otros términos), mostly Ṣanhāja but also Zanāta and Hawwāra, this study will show the spaces that they occupy and the productive activities that allow this, from commerce and herding to Islamic studies or government. The mobility dynamics of Berber groups in the Saharan space for the greatest part of the medieval period will also be brought up, together with the continuities and transformations in settlement patterns and their relationship to production systems.
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